In the first domestic sale of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival – which opened on Wednesday – Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed North American and Latin American rights for the Russian drama Loveless. The film comes from Andrey Zvyagintsev, who made splash at Cannes a few years back with his controversial, Oscar-nominated drama Leviathan. Deadline was the first to report the acquisition.
The synopsis for Loveless reads: “Boris and Zhenya are going through a divorce. Arguing constantly, and in the process of selling their apartment, they are already preparing for their new lives: Boris with his younger, pregnant girlfriend and Zhenya with the wealthy lover who is keen to get married. Neither seems interested in their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until he disappears.” The film stars Alexei Rozin and Maryana Spivak.
Ahead of its world premiere at Cannes (which will take place tomorrow night), early reviews for the movie have already started to trickle in; Variety‘s Owen Glieberman called Loveless a “compelling and forbidding new movie by the Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev.” The film plays in competition, where it hopes to be in contention for the prestigious Palme d’Or.
For Sony Pictures Classics, this marks a reunion as the outfit previously distributed Leviathan, which aside from earning an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, won the Golden Globe in the same category and picked up a Best Screenplay prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The distributor said in a statement, “There is no more timely film than Loveless. Andrey is one of the world’s finest directors in peak form here. It is just great to be in business again with him and Alexander following our success together with Leviathan a few years ago.”
No stateside release date has been announced as of yet.
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